The Re-Impact Taipan

General description:
The Taipan is, for Re-Impact, an untypical blade as it does not contain balsa at all. It is also untypical in that it consists of 9 plies of soft wood, which are assembled symmetrically. When all blades were still made of pure wood, this classic way of building was used to make blades that had good flexibility combined with good power; generally, these blades were heavy (over 90 grams). In contrast, the Taipan weighs about 76 grams and is only about 8.4 mm thick; it is also rather rigid. Being a Re-Impact blade, it offers very high feedback and high control; at that it has a very high spin-potential. Its speed is medium high, which fits the exceptional all-round blade that it is.

Suitability for styles:
The Taipan is a versatile all-round blade and should be played actively. As such it is somewhat less suitable for defensive styles which make use of passive blocking, although it does agree quite well with low-friction long pips-out rubbers without sponge, and with anti-spin rubbers. It is, due to its moderate speed, also less suitable for all-out attacking types of play in which short pips-out rubbers are used, but it does work well with short or medium pips-out rubbers on its backhand used for blocking and countering. Ideally it fits the technically gifted all-rounder who will use the entire range of strokes combined with subtle tactics, but it is also suitable for aggressive modern defenders, or for any type of play which consists of using a mix of different techniques, tactics, and rubbers.

Suitability for rubbers:
The Taipan will sustain the use of every type of rubber, in every thickness.

Idiosyncrasies:
Almost all Re-Impact blades, having been designed for specific purposes, have special properties which are beneficial to the desired style of play, but in some situations may pose unexpected problems. The Taipan is the exception.

Blade Protection:
The blade is sealed; extra sealing is not really required. It won’t do any harm to add some extra protection on the blade’s face, but adding more than two thin layers is inadvisable, as it will harden the feel of the blade.

Taipan Pictures:

Below are some pictures of this blade. Click on the image to see the full size version.